[1] De Engelsen noemden dit de trade
winds, de winden die de schepen vanaf de Canarische Eilanden naar Centraal
Amerika stuurden. Maar ervaren zeilers kennen ook de Portugese Alisese winden,
komend vanaf het noordoosten, die schepen vanaf Noord Portugal langs de
kustlijn naar dezelfde Canarische Eilanden joegen. Hierna volgen twee
definities, met dank aan Patrick Mounier uit Frankrijk.:
Vent alizé ou, n. m., alizé: vent régulier
soufflant la plus grande partie de l'année dans la zone intertropicale (du
N.-E. au S.-O. dans l'hémisphère N., du S.-E. au N.-O. dans l'hémisphère S.),
dû à la quasi-permanence des anticyclones sur les régions subtropicales et de
basses pressions sur les régions équatoriales (en altitude, le champ de
pression se renverse: contre-alizé ). Trade wind adj. and n. m. Trade wind: regular wind
blowing the largest part of the year in the intertropical zone (from N.-E. to
S.-W in the hemisphere N., from S.-E. to N.-W. in the hemisphere S.), on the
ground of the quasi permanent anticyclones over the subtropical regions and low
pressures over the equatorial regions (in altitude, the field of pressure
overturns: anti-trade).
Vent qui souffle toute l'année de l'Est sur la
partie orientale du Pacifique et de l'Atlantique, l'Alizé tient son nom de
l'ancien français alis qui signifie lisse, la caractéristique principale de ce
vent étant d'être régulier. Les voiles aiment à se faire engrosser par ce vent
sur qui l'on peut compter. "Entre les tropiques, un merveilleux soir où
l'alizé austral soufflait avec sa plus exquise douceur." Loti, Matelot, XXIV. Wind
blowing out all the year long from the East to the oriental part of the Pacific
and the Atlantic Ocean, the Trade wind gets its name from ancient French
language alis which means « smooth », the main characteristic of this wind is
to be regular. Saills like to be blown by this wind that we can stand by.
" Between tropics, a marvelous night when the southern trade wind blew
with his most delicious sweetness. " LOTI, Sailor, XXIV
[2] Woodes Rogers (b. 1679?--d. July 16, 1732, Nassau, Bahamas), was an English privateer who became governor of the Bahamas and one of the key figures in suppressing pirates in the Caribbean. Rogers started life as a merchant but in 1708 fellow Bristol merchants whose ships were falling prey to pirates sponsored a retaliatory global expedition and selected Rogers to command it, with William Dampier as his navigator. Under a letter of marque Rogers set sail to harass Spanish shipping. To the English he was a loyal citizen but to the Spanish he was a pirate.
The expedition was very successful, with Rogers bringing home bullion, precious stones and exotic silks from victimized Spanish vessels, one of those being the Nuestra Señora de la Encarnación de Singano with a cargo valued at one or two million dollars. Rogers also brought home an extra passenger, a Scottish seaman named Alexander Selkirk.
Alexander Selkirk of Largo, Scotland, had run
away to sea in 1695 and by 1703 was the Master of the Galley. In September of
1704, after a quarrel with his Captain, the hotheaded Selkirk requested that he
be put ashore on the uninhabited island of Juan Fernandez, four hundred miles
west of Valparaiso, Chile. (This proved a fortunate choice since the ship later
sunk with the loss of most hands.) Selkirk remained on Juan Fernandez until
February of 1709 when he was discovered by Captain Woodes Rogers in the sailing
ship "Duke" whose pilot happened to be Dampier. Despite his long
castaway, Selkirk was appointed Mate by Rogers and later given command of a
captured prize ship. Selkirk finally returned home to Scotland where he lived
the life of a recluse but later went to sea again. He died at sea in 1721 at
the age of forty-five.
|
Rogers account of this voyage and his rescue of Selkirk was published in 1712 as A Cruising Voyage Round the World: First to the South Seas, Thence to the East Indies, and Homeward by the Cape of Good Hope...Containing A Journal of All the Remarkable Transactions...An Account of Alexander Selkirk's Living Alone Four Years and Four Months on an Island. This book would later inspire Daniel Defoe to write the classic Robinson Crusoe. (See a detailed and fascinating description of "Alexander Selkirk: The Real Robinson Crusoe" by James S. Bruce and Mayme S. Bruce, published in The Explorers Journal, Spring 1993. Defoe (1660?-1731) was among Rogers' circle
of acquaintances and accomplices that included the famous cartographer Herman
Moll (1654-1732), author Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), the buccaneer William Dampier
(1651-1715) and the field archeologist Rev. Dr. William Stukeley (1687-1765).
Dennis Reinhartz, professor of history, writes that Defoe based his Captain
Singleton (1720) on Dampier and Rogers while Swift modeled the title
character in Gulliver's Travels (1726) on Dampier, Rogers, and
Selkirk-Crusoe. (See Reinhartz's short biography of Moll at Mercator's World.)
|
In 1717 Rogers was appointed the first royal governor
of the Bahamas and charged with ridding the islands of pirates. Originally a
base from which English government sanctioned privateers could harass the
Spanish, Nassau had become a rouge
possession virtually ruled by pirates who owed loyalty to no one. By 1700, the
pirates actually ruled Nassau with "lawless riot and drunken revelry"
and chased off the remaining law-abiding citizenry to exile in Great Exuma.
Edward Teach, The infamous Blackbeard (Edward Teach), took up residence in Fort
Nassau and from which he toyed with the British Royal Navy. It was into this
den of wolves the British Crown sent Rogers, a fellow privateer, to make order.
The following year he arrived at Nassau, headquarters of more than 2,000
pirates.
In his first report to the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, Rogers described his arrival:
"...Your Lordships, I arriv'd in this Port on the 26 July last in company with the Men of Warr ordered to assist me. I met with little opposition in coming in, but found a French ship (that was taken by the Pirates of 22 Guns) burning in the Harbour -- which we were told was set on Fire to drive out His Majestys Ship the Rose who got in too early the evening before me, and cut her cable and run out in the Night for fear of being burnt by one Charles Vane who command'd the Pirates and at our [approach] and His Majesty's Ship -- the Milfords near approach the next morning, they finding it impossible to escape us, he with about ninety men fled away in a Sloop wearing the black Flag and Fir'd guns of Defiance when they perciev'd their Sloop out Sayl'd the Two -- that I sent to chase them hence ..."
Rogers received a group of representatives
from Harbor Island who assured him that, unlike Vane, many of the pirates were
eager to accept the King's amnesty. On the following day, when he landed,
"he was received with joy by some three hundred persons. the repentant
pirates formed a military guard of honor in two lines and fired off their
muskets in celebration." (Peterson)
Whether the greeting was friendly in fact or a false showing, calculating that he was one of them or at the very least no match for them, Rogers quickly consolidated his power. He selected several trustworthy men of Harbor Island who had not been pirates, balancing them with an equal number of his own company, to act as an organizing council. As governor of the Bahamas Rogers exercised much authority, not the least of which was the power of pardon. Offered the Royal pardon all but ten of the most entrenched pirate captains accepted the offer. The remaining ten, including Blackbeard, were hunted down by Rogers forces. Blackbeard died in a legendary sea battle off the coast of Virginia in 1718:
"A risk-taker to the end, Blackbeard ignored the warnings of his compatriots and allowed the British ship, Pearl, to trap his vessel in a sandbar. After toasting the British commander with a mug of rum, Blackbeard declared that he would take no quarter and be damned if he gave any. In the hand-to-hand fight that followed, he received "5 pistol balls and 20 cutlass wounds" before he fell. The British commander, Lieutenant Robert Maynard, beheaded Blackbeard and displayed his glowering head on the tip of the Pearl's bowsprit." (from the Official Site of the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism).
None of the remaining pirates escaped, all being captured and hanged. Nor perhaps did Woodes Rogers himself escape this life of bloody violence; he died in Fort Nassau a few years later of "mysterious causes."
Rogers slogan, "Piracy Expelled, Commerce Restored," remained the national motto of the Bahamas until independence in 1973.
Privateer. This term applied to an armed vessel, its captain or its crew. A privateer was authorized by a commission or a letter of marque from a nation's government to capture the merchant vessels of a hostile nation. In the eyes of the hostile (or victim nation) they were simply pirates.
A letter of marque was recognized by international law and, in theory, a privateer could not be charged with piracy. Nations frequently made use of privateers sailing under a letter of marque to cut the costs of building a navy during times of war. They could be looked upon much as our reserve forces are today. Unfortunately, many privateers found they enjoyed the excitement, wealth and freedom their lifestyle offered and, like Edward Teach, took to defying the the very nation he to which he had originally sworn alliance.